Songs Till Ending
by Adeladen
Summary: "Oi, Zetsu, Sasori's got a girl coming to live here, I heard." Interesting. Since when was Sasori interested in dating? Then again, since when had Zetsu become so interested in stealing Sasori's prey away? ZetsuSasoriFemDeidaradrama
1. Valse De La Lune

Valse De La Lune

The day was early. The sun had not yet made it over the tall, wispy weeping willow trees that surrounded him, making the sky a deep, deep navy blue. Everything was quiet. Everyone everywhere was still sleeping, their faces contorted by nightmares or set at ease by stories they alone told when they let themselves go to their undisturbed demise. The stars in the sky twinkled whites and reds and azules unable to be named by human imagination. Street lamps flickered their ill yellow lights onto the worn pavement below, making the melted gum and bird excretion from the earlier days look like nothing but flecks on a plate. Disgusting and bothersome.

He knew though, that soon the hour would pass and there would be fire in the east. Glowing and pulsing red and orange it would climb - as if it was not the sun behind the horizon, but a heart stretching slowly and surely to reach it's rightful place in the sky, embracing the world below once again. Sounds would thrive. The trees with their long, drooping branches and furry leaves would be bathed in light, becoming the dark lime-green they were meant to be. They'd shine like the smiles of children, swaying along in the playful breezes that came to tickle them. The birds living in the trees would gate fearlessly along the sidewalks contentedly and do spirals in the air, praising the sun for it's endless love and security. All the while this part of the world would be serene and brimmed with joy for many others.

But not now. So late was the dawn to rise. The wind now passed fleetingly over his skin, caressing those who would be asleep at this hour, but causing the hairs on his arms to rise and - in an odd way - awaken. The onyx eyes that envisioned the future as it would be did not seem to register the present, lost in the thoughts that were behind them. Long, creme coloured arms sprinkled with earthenware brown rested on top of lengthy, long shaped legs, contemplative. Both were muscular and chiseled. Thin, but used to doing any kind of work they were set to without complaint. A smooth rounded nose pointed out soundly to fall back down on thin Tuscan brown lips and a strong, yet rounded chin. His thin midnight eyebrows disappeared into a rush of spiky thick green hair. The only oddity on this body of his. Naturally that way, ever since he could begin to remember, his hair had began and stayed a bright leafy green. It was strange indeed and earned no end of teasing by most he was around.

But in time, as most do with those things, he learned to live with it.

The park he was sitting in now - the weather stained wooden bench, the pale multifarious sidewalk - he had named his. Yanagi Park. A place where, at times like this, he could be solitary for as long as he wanted without anyone disturbing him. In the afternoon he had other things to do, tasks to perform for those whose amusement held more pertinence than his own. But now he could contemplate the mysteries of the universe and life itself without any interruption, surrounded by the only things he dubbed his alone.

He knew better than that though. This park was communal. There was near to nothing in the world that he held to himself, for it all had to be given away to someone else. Not his time, not the clothes on his back, not his words...

"Zetsu~!"

Not even his own name.

The only things he had were the thoughts in his head, which made the solitary escapes that much more important. It was never for long, though. And it was more than likely that in what seemed just a few moments after he'd risen from bed that someone should come and seek him out.

This figure appeared in front of him with their face concealed behind a round cimarron orange mask resembling somewhat of a lollipop (the way a black canal swirled from the inside to the outside). Center right was a small, light-less eye-hole, where nonetheless a bright blue orb peered out, curious and soft. It smiled at him and then the person twirled around once, their much too large long-sleeved turtleneck passing their hands and stopping just above their knees. Wild ebony hair jutted and rolled in the figure of a dome around the small person's head like a jungle long past tamed.

Again, their squeaky voice piped up, not loosing the intense volume at which he had first heard it.

"Zettsan! What are you doing out here? All alone?"

The boy's name was Tobi. An orphan, or perhaps also an escapee like Zetsu himself, Tobi was an inquisitive one with enough sense to act like he wasn't. Around eight or so the child had been branded himself an eccentric with no visible mental or physical problems. There was always a song on Tobi's mind and it leaked through the whistles and hums that he let slip past his lips in most every minute of the day. Sometimes a happy ditty, at other times a sad one, but never angry. And it always seemed to go with the moment.

Suddenly, remembering that he had been asked a question, Zetsu shrugged his broad shoulders and sighed, feeling the quiet moment slipping away from him quicker than he could contain.

A long, drawn out 'mmm' came from the child's lips as he skipped over and hopped onto the bench his friend was sitting on, swaying his head from side to side as if there was a song in the still morning air that Zetsu could not hear. Tobi's much too large white shoes kicked up and down on, the laces of bunny ears flying in the air with each fall of his pale, skinny legs.

"It's like... five o' clock in the morning. Why do you get up so early, Zettsan? Is it because you can't sleep? Do you get nightmares a lot? I never get nightmares - in fact, I don't dream at all. Isn't that strange? Or maybe you don't dream either! That's why you can't sleep! But I can sleep, so no, I guess that's not it. What are dreams like, Zettsan? Oh, wait, I guess you can't answer that if you don't have dreams." The boy only took a breath to giggle to himself, putting a hand over where his mouth would be if he wasn't wearing his mask. Then he started on, "Sasori-no-dana gets up really early too, which is kind of strange. You suppose he sleeps at all, Zettsan? I don't think so, I don't think evil ever sleeps - ER, not that Sasori-no-dana's evil! But don't you think it's kind of weird that he seems to never sleep? Maybe that's why he's got those dark half moons under his eyes."

Like every time he talked to Tobi, Zetsu tried not to think about the questions or the subject of his questions.

Instead Zetsu placed his hands on either side of him, pushing himself up to a stand. "We should get back." was all he said, then beginning his usual, slow gate to the west. Opposite of the rising sun, opposite of the warmth. He had work to do now, in the place he called home for the time being. Tobi followed just as enthusiastically as he had sat on the bench in semi-silence, skipping and humming sometimes in front of, sometimes beside the taller man. It was how they spent most of their mornings, in invaded quiet and peace. It was probably how they would spend the rest of their mornings until they got old and could walk or skip no more...

"We're here, we're here, we're heeeere~!" Tobi sang joyously as he flitted to the entrance of their home and job. Zetsu looked up at the old red neon sign flickering above his head in simple reflex. Miller deLight, - Miller's for short - was a popular bar on Heiki street, (one of the main streets in the large town of 柳町 'Yanagi Town') where everyone was welcomed to drown their sorrows and party untill the sun rose over their heads. Many times even past that.

There were two floors to this extensive building. The first was ground level, filled with pool and card tables, maroon red leather bar stools in front of two long slick isles on the north and south side of the room. The carpet was a poker colour green, with specks of brick red and cornflower blue, the walls a pitiful tan hue that had been poorly picked.

But most could not see this when they were swimming in their own tears.

On the top floor the walls and carpet were no different. Only, after the wooden staircase there was a hallway with multiple doors and rooms behind them that were made for the residents and the overnighters; the ones that had passed out at the bar or gotten knocked out by a good nose bashing during the night. Of course for this stay they had to pay a small amount of money, but this way the top floor also doubled for a hotel of sorts for those who more or less needed it.

A long time ago when he was much, much younger, the place used to belong to a mean old couple that ran the was not called Miller deLight, but Café Global, famous for it's amazing foreign pastries and cappuccino. The floors had been the same, but the walls had been a capturing Tuscan hue, which Zetsu remembered staring at for hours and hours on end without tiring of it. And sometimes, when it got too loud, or when the drunken idiots inside of Miller's got a little too roudy, he wished that Café Global was still there. That he could once again hear the clicking of the nimble fingers that typed unceasingly, the smell of the African coffee grounds and French breads...

But he was never welcomed there like he was at his new home. The same detached feeling of belonging was a little less present at this place, but an actual standing point had been missing from the earlier one.

A tug on his T-shirt sleeve made Zetsu finally look down to Tobi, who was gazing at him with what the taller man could imagine was a pursed lip, raised eye expression.

"Whatcha' lookin' at, Zetssan?" he asked, cocking his head to the side in a bird-like manner."I always see you lookin' up at that sign when you get here, watcha' thinkin' about?"

"...Clouds." Zestu muttered offhandedly. It would be naught but a hassle to talk about the place that had used to reside on this lot. Tobi was fairly new. He'd only joined the group that lived inside of Miller deLight a couple years ago, as he'd been found by Zetsu himself, wandering aimlessly around his park.

And, of course, like with all the answers he received, Tobi did not seem satisfied. For this, Zetsu did not blame him, as he had a right to be unsatisfied with anything anyone told him to believe. The boy was not listened to, and he was lied to and pushed away constantly. Something Zetsu was not proud of, but nothing he had any control over.

"Aren't you gonna go in?" Zetsu asked, taking a deep breath

Tobi jumped with an 'Oh!' and turned around to the door, placing his small, hidden fingers around the golden handle and rotating it, pushed open the piece of glass and metal between them and the inside of Miller deLight.

Immediately they were stalled, being hit in the face with stagnate cigarette smoke and beer stench, making Tobi cough into his sleeve. Over just a short time the boy had quickly grown allergic to the scent of the small sticks of poison that so openly littered his own home.

Feeling just a small bit of pity for the child, Zetsu patted his back and urged him to keep moving, he himself starting to maneuver past the drunks passed out on the floor and the overturned bar stools to the slick wooden staircase on the east side of the room. There was no one handling the bars themselves while a group of men laughed heartily at one of the pool tables, hitting one of theirs on his back. Zetsu thought for just a moment that it was rather risky, to let the drunk alone take care of the shop, but he doubted that anyone would try anything when last year Sasori-no-dana had cut a drunk man's hand off when he had tried to steal a whole pack of Smirnoff.

Yes. Everyone remembered that quite vividly. And those who had not been present were told what had happened no doubt. This was the greatest bar _and_ the one with the best security in the whole town of Yanagimachi after that incident.

When they emerged from the stairs and started down the long hallway, the first thing they heard was not the sound of snoring, but the sound of an angry bark.

"Fuck you. This is _shit_, man!"

The brash voice was familiar. As was the deep, cool one that answered him.

"You expect me to give you money for something you stole?"

At the very end of the corridor the boy and his friend turned to the left, entering a large, well-lit room with two couches up against the north and west walls the same colour and make as the bar stools downstairs. A short-standing table stood scratch lacquered and worn in front of them both. And on the far side of the room there was a skinny wooden chair next to a double-door opening.

And in the middle of the room, two quarreling men, staring each-other down.

Tobi and Zetsu were not noticed upon entry. Those in the argument were too busy for them now. The smaller one on the right (a man with short grey hair slicked back on his head) had skin that was exceptionally pale, his body exceptionally thick. His arms were bare, save for the single gold chain on his left wrist. His shirt was silk, an orange-red on which a great black dragon snaked around white lightning and snarled. He wore tight-fitting blue jeans that faded to a baby blue on his thighs and a wallet chain, dirty gold, disappeared into his shirt, snapping onto his belt loop.

His eyes shone luminescent mauve, fire-like as he glared up at his grey-eyed opponent. This man was considerably taller and thinner than the other and his hair was a charcoal black that jutted out every which way, but it was short and subdued. Around his neck was a simple white towel replacing his shirt so that it was clear to see how this one had just gotten out of the shower - the way some of the water droplets were still visible on his olive-toned chest. The man wore a plain brown leather belt that held up his skinny grey jeans, a single large fringing hole in the left knee. Black ink made to appear like stitches lay on the corners of his mouth, around on his shoulders and above his elbows, as well as on his wrists and neck.

"Hidan," he said, shaking his head, "I may look like a criminal, but didn't your mother ever teach you not to steal?"

Hidan snorted angrily, his eyes rolling wildly. "Shut the hell up, man! Found isn't the same thing as stole. I _found_ this, OK? What's the big deal? And _don't_ bring parental figures into this!"

"That's horrid logic and you know it."

"Fuck you, Kakuzu."

Tobi, having listened to the conversation good manneredly as he kicked his legs off the side of the west couch smiled. "That rhymed!" he sang. "Fuck you, Kakuzu~, fuck you, Kakuzu~!"

The smaller man laughed and pointed to the child, a wide grin displaying his bleach white teeth.

"See?" he said, "Even the kid hates you!"

"What?" was said kid's startled question.

Now it was Kakuzu's turn to snort. "Tobi is an impressionable child, he was only repeating what he heard because he liked the sound of the phrase. It doesn't mean _anything_."

Again, "Shut the hell up," was Hidan's retort to that.

Zetsu, who had not left the doorway, leaned against the wood and crossed his arms. This happened daily - Hidan getting angry at Kakuzu and it all turning into one big fight. If Zetsu had ten yen for every time he was witness to an altercation, then a long time ago he would've been able to easily buy even Sasori-no-dana out of everything.

Kakuzu laughed suddenly, surprising everyone in the room. Tobi jumped with visible surprise.

"I'll give you some money for it, Hidan," The taller man exclaimed. "I never said I wouldn't. Why do you always let me mess with your head?"

Hidan was stunned for a moment and then he smiled and punched Kakuzu in the arm once he realized that he really had been fooled.

"You rat _bastard_!" he laughed, taking out the subject of their earlier argument from his pant's pocket. It was a strange necklace, wrought together with round and jagged pieces of navy and cerulean blues, would-be-greens and an interesting iridescent turquoise that Zetsu had never seen before. On the very end of the necklace was a sea hued pocket watch type item. But apparently as Hidan described it to Kakuzu, it didn't open at all.

"Which pisses me off," he was muttering to himself. "Once in a while I'd like to get a bonus or something."

Kakuzu took the trinket into his large hands and inspected it, turning it this way and that. Finally, hand on his chin in thought he nodded.

"6000." he decided. The transaction was completed when Kakuzu handed over the money to Hidan and bowed his head in respect. It was a strange thing to do, the way he did it, but for some reason Kakuzu always bowed like this after a great deal had been done for him. Perhaps it came from customs in India? Of course, Zetsu knew not where exactly Kakuzu had come from, except that it was somewhere around the Middle East, and he did not really care to find out anything more about someone he rarely spoke to.

"Oi, Zetsu," Kakuzu called to him, bringing him out of his own thoughts once again. Zetsu raised an eyebrow at this. "Sasori-no-dana's got a girl coming to live in town, I heard. That's where Kisame supposedly went at least. Poor bastard has to go and pick her up from the airport, since he's got the slickest car of us all."

"Oh, baby, do I love that fucking Cadillac," Hidan put in, grinning as he sat down on the couch and rested his arm on it's head.

Kakuzu smiled and continued. "Word is she's a total babe, which makes me wonder how our short little red-head managed to pick her up."

Word is? Where was Kakuzu getting his info?

"Probably got her offa' the internet. You don't need to be real on the web," the man on the couch laughed.

Zetsu was quiet for a moment, contemplating this. "What's her name?" He asked.

Kakuzu again put a hand to his chin in thought. "It's something that starts with a 'D' and ends in 'ara'..."

"*_Danshi_bara?" Hidan offered, laughing boisterously.

"Nah... like.. Darakudara... Or Darekakara. Daruigara?"

Tobi cocked his head to the side again. "Those don't sound like lady names. How about Daiyamara?"

Hidan scowled. "Shut up kid, it don't have to sound feminine."

The stitch man shook his head. "I forgot. But she's gonna be here soon anyway, so we'll find out won't we?"

"Personally I feel sorry for this bitch, whoever the hell she is," The grey-headed man commented. "If I was a girl I'd get as fucking far away from him as I could. No telling what kind of shit he'd want to do with me."

"If it was you, Hidan, I doubt _anyone_ would want anything to do with you."

"That's fucking cold, man."

"It's true."

If Zetsu thought about it seriously, he too felt sort of sorry for the woman that had fallen in love with Kakyoun Sasori. Their 'leader' so to speak was a harsh, tyrannical tycoon that believed he owned the world and everything in it. He felt nothing, he loved nothing.

Although now, apparently, he just might.

"She must be just like him," Zetsu realized in a mumble. Perhaps that was why the girl felt like she needed to move here, because she'd found someone who was just as hateful and evil as herself.

"Jesus, I hope not," Hidan said, popping his neck with his fist. "It's hard enough just having one hard ass bastard that gets off on ordering us around already."

No one in that room could agree more.

Tobi crossed his legs in front of him and leaned forward. "Where's this lady from?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Probably somewhere in the UK," Zetsu offered, knowing that the other two men would ignore the kid completely. "Sasori-no-dana has a lot of business over there."

Kakuzu nodded. "It's where he spends most of his time. I wouldn't put it past him if this woman was someone he met at a business meeting. But then again, if her name is Japanese, where in the world...? Everyone within a ten-thousand mile radius of this place knows about Sasori-no-dana. She couldn't be from here."

Hidan smoothed back his hair and smirked. "That punk's got no life. He's nuthin' but flat ass lucky-"

He was interrupted by a small '_oof!_' that came from behind Zetsu, followed by a light thunk against the carpet. All heads turned to look his direction, but Zetsu hadn't made the sound and didn't know who had. Straightening up he turned around and looked behind him.

What he saw had him stunned.

"Oooh..."

**「高い牛」**


	2. Come Clarity

Clarity

"I've got to be dreaming," she said. "Green hair."

The woman was slim, but not stick skinny. She had long blonde hair, straight down till it laid on the carpet in her current, half-sitting, half-laying down position. It covered her right eye somewhat, but still a tantalizing cold blue behind those bangs, both of her eyes captured and held him where he was. Zetsu could have stared at her forever, if it wasn't for Kakuzu's call that brought him out of his reveling.

Slowly, he held out his hand, which she took with the same slowness and pulled herself up. When she stood she was a full head shorter than him. Her skin against his was at least four shades lighter, too. But her grip was strong, her gaze - cocked up at him from her position - was level and calm.

For what seemed like forever to him they stared at each other. No doubt she was confused at the bright colour of his roots. And he was judging the girl closely, trying to think of a reason for why she could be up on the second floor. She didn't seem inebriated. And it _was_ about eight in the morning. Too early for a woman to be all that drunk.

Her voice was easy and playful, but smooth like chocolate. "You just have to be one of Sasori's friends," she mused.

Fear struck him like lightning, ordering that he drop his hand immediately. As if hers were on fire. Zetsu let go and backed up a bit, trying to get some space in between them.

This was Sasori's girl - The one they'd just been talking about. And if Sasori was anywhere near here he would surely kill Zetsu for touching her. And he liked life as far as he was concerned. Very much so.

The girl didn't notice his separation. She was too busy looking at the room and everyone in it one-by-one. Her eyes trailed from Zetsu's green hair to Kakuzu's tattooed chest, face and wrists (In response, his arms raised slowly to cover himself), to Hidan's practiced raised-eye expression. When her eyes came to rest on Tobi she smiled wide in a curious way, her bright white teeth blinding. Hidan took one look her way and thrust his chin in her general direction. "Hey, babe, you lost-"

Zetsu shot the man a look and it stopped the words in their tracks. "What? You got a problem-"

"I see you've met our lady," a voice chuckled from behind the blonde. A shark-toothed grin shot up from the hallway and Zetsu was pushed aside as Kakuzu motioned the two into the room. For the woman, he insisted that she please take a seat, next to Tobi. For Kisame, he told to hurry the hell up before all of the unpleasant stench from downstairs pervaded the air of the living room.

Zetsu closed the door behind the kid with the pointed murky-water hair. The latter, a little stung, stroked the shaved sides of his head with a couple fingers on his bag-occupied hand. "She said she didn't mind the smell," He remarked to no one in particular before carefully setting the luggage in the far corner of the room.

It was at this point that all the slow-to-ring alarm bells in Hidan's head began to set off like bright exploding fireworks. He made a choked sound and sat up ram-rod straight, his eyes roaming the room to look at anything but the woman sitting to his left. Kakuzu licked his lips nervously and regarded her with a sort of trepidation that just barely kept him from asking any questions. "Can I get you something? Anything? There's water... Uh... Well, there's water."

The blue gaze flickered up to his lips again, and over his neck. "Um, no," She answered him. "I think I'm fine, uh..."

She was asking for his name. Kakuzu just watched her for a split moment before two fingers raised to his temple.

"I think I'll just... get you some water," He said instead. With quick, long strides, he hurried to the door and out into the hall. Zetsu closed the door behind him just as quickly as he'd left. But he closed it quietly, in case the loud noise would disturb her. And after their well-speaking second-leader was gone, no one could think of anything to say. Hidan would clear his throat a couple times, as if he had thought of a question. However (and good for him, too), he thought better of saying anything. If it offended his woman, Sasori would have his balls on a nice and shiny silver platter. That idea did not appeal to him at all.

So they sat in silence for a few long-drawn moments more. Until the deafening unsound was broken by Tobi, who didn't feel the least bit afraid for his life. "I'm Tobi!" The boy stuck out his chest proudly.. "Greetings and salutations!"

The blonde watched him for a moment before a deep and genuine smile struck her face. She bowed slightly in return. "I'm Shikishu Deidara! It's a pleasure to meet you."

The child in the orange mask looked very confused. He scooted a little closer to the woman and cocked his head at her. "You sound all funny."

Hidan's heart leapt to his throat and Zetsu clenched his hands so hard that his knuckles popped. Kisame crossed his arms and then scratched his head, trying to pretend like Tobi hadn't just said something were all fucking toast if their Boss's girlfriend didn't like the way the kid had spoken to her, and they knew it in their souls.

That's why when she started laughing instead they all jumped sky high. Her voice rang like deep, fur covered bells, and seemed to seep into every corner of the room.

"Well," She said, covering her mouth with her thin fingers. "To me, you're the one who sounds 'all funny', hn?"

"I'm not! This is how everyone sounds around here! Huh, Zettsan? Huh?"

Put on the spot, Zetsu began to feel his palms begin to heat like a fire set inside of fists. She was watching him, waiting for him to answer. But he refused to say anything, and cast his eyes to the side. It was the smartest thing he could do - that he could think of.

"... I've got an accent," Slowly she removed her spear-like gaze from his face and back to the boy's shell. "I'm from Osaka. I-"

"Osaka? Where's that?" Tobi interrupted her. Behind himself, Zetsu could hear Kisame suddenly exhale as if he'd just been kicked in the stomach. But the woman - Shikishu - didn't even appear to be the slightest bit irritated at the boy's rudeness. In fact, she treated the whole situation with a patience the likeness of (Zetsu could only compare it to) a teacher.

Yes, she almost seemed to be enjoying herself with the kid. "Osaka is located on the main island. You know the four islands of Japan, right?"

"Yeah. Shikoku... Uh... Hokkaido... Honshu and... Uh. I forgot, but I know them."

"Close enough," Shikishu gave a little chuckle.

Kakuzu returned with a glass of ice-water. He'd thrown on a plain white v-neck so that he wouldn't be half-naked if Sasori showed up to collect his woman. Afraid of spilling the water all over her, Kakuzu produced a foam coaster and set the cup down on top of it. "Here's your... Water."

"Thank you."

Then the woman cast a questioning blue gaze at him. "I'm sorry, but... When will Sasori-kun be back here?"

Hidan looked at Kisame. Kisame looked to the back of Zetsu's head. Zetsu's stare evened at the space next to the woman's face. And Kakuzu looked at everyone first before turning his eyes back to the floor.

Kisame took a step forward. "He didn't tell ya? Sasori-no-dana doesn't live-"

Zetsu shot the boy a look and his pointy white teeth chattered to a quick close. "He's going to be here soon. He told me to call him up when you got here." Kakuzu didn't try to smile at the girl, but he made an effort to actually turn his eyes to hers. The reassurance seemed forced - And it was. "I'm sure he's got... a plan."

There was something that the girl wasn't buying. Zetsu could see it in her expression; She was looking at everyone else, as if to find out if they agreed with the stitch-man's story or not. Kakuzu wasn't lying. But that, Zetsu didn't think, wasn't what she wasn't believing. Something was off about the whole thing...

However, she decided to trust them. "Thank you... for the water."

"... Sure. Sure..."

A long, awkward, empty silence. The clink of a couple of glasses downstairs. Gravel-y laughter. Tobi watched the Shikishu Deidara woman gaze around at everyone, and stare at Zetsu's tree-green hair. And whie he was watching her, he saw something that he couldn't place. It was heavy in her face, and it hung on the corner of her lips, bringing their peach ends down even though she was smiling. She looked... Tired. No. It wasn't tired. It was something else...

Tobi opened his mouth, but only a croak got out before he realized that the downstairs sounds had stopped. Everything had gone from painfully quiet to dead quiet. Footsteps lightly _thump, thump _-ed up the steps, heading straight for them.

Everyone except for her - They all heard it. They were used to listening for his shoes on the carpet, so they would have time to make peace with themselves before he appeared before them. They knew the chill that preceded him down the hallway. And they all realized that this time, even more than the other times, they had no idea what to expect from Kakyoun Sasori-no-dana.

Tobi hopped up from the couch, leaving Shikishu's side to hide behind Zetsu. Zetsu was already backing up from the door. He stopped close to Kisame, clenching his hands even tighter as he waited for the doorknob to turn.

They waited for what seemed like an eternity.

As the door _creak_-ed open, their terror stood about five-foot-nine at best. He was very pale, dressed in a black shirt and faded black/blue jeans. The sleeves of the shirt were pushed up to the elbows, a brown leather watch on the slim wrist of his left hand.

The fringes of his dark auburn hair hung down into his eyes. It'd grown since last anyone had really seen him (Which had been over two months ago. Sasori usually took trips at strange times during the year for god only knew what. They were used to this as well). Looking back on it, this was their first sign. Kakyoun Sasori never let his bangs reach past his eyebrows. Kakyoun Sasori got angry if any of his little servants were even slightly sloppily dressed or presented around him. Not the ever-present kind of scream-y, yell-y angry, either. The harsh kind of quiet, smoldering hate-angry that made you feel as if you should just go ahead and put the gun to your temple for him.

And that demeanor wasn't only saved for the hurriedly dressed. It was the anger-face that he put on and wore for everyone else. It was how he walked, and how he lived his life. Probably how he cooked his breakfast and showered, too. Not that anyone had ever seen him do either of those things, thank whoever it was that pre-ordained these things. But this was their second sign.

Sasori's chestnut eyes - usually writhing with void demons and wispy-black tendrils of hatehatehate - were relatively calm in comparison. Almost... Almost nervous, even. Heavy with... joy...?

In Sasori's right hand, he held a bouquet of sunflowers. That was the third sign. And definitely the most troubling sign of all.

Shikishu shot up from her seat, her white smile flash-blinding radiantly everyone in the room. When Sasori saw her stand he didn't scowl, he didn't tell her to cool her shit, he didn't just sit and wait for her to come to him. No, he added to the astonishment, destroying everything that they knew and loved about anyone and anything anymore by practically running over to the woman and immediately _pulling her into a kiss_.

Hidan vaulted from his seat with a cringe. Kakuzu reeled to the wall, his black eyes wider than quarters. Kisame gagged and had to turn around. Zetsu promptly died inside and looked away.

Tobi was too terrified to even giggle.

This should have been the fourth sign, but it was more of a second-coming-of-christ kind of thing.

Sasori pulled himself away with a slowness that made seconds extend years-long. During the hardest minute of any of their (Zetsu's, Hidan's, Kisame's, Kakuzu's, Tobi's) lives, anyone who was smart and not part of the sickening union realized that the shit had, indeed, hit the proverbial fan. Shikishu sheepishly grinning, Sasori gazing deeply into her eyes without his own smile, they'd seen everything now.

"What are you? American?" The woman inquired at last. Sasori seemed to remember himself, and pulled a bit away.

"I'm... really happy that you came, Deidara," He half whispered. "How was the plane ride? Was the plane ride OK?"

"Hn, hn. Yeah. It was fine. Thanks, Sasori-kun."

He got quiet. Zetsu was ready for this all to be a trick, or a bad nightmare. Anything. Anything at all. However, 'Sasori-kun' decided to keep adding layers. "Oh, uh. These... These are for you."

The red-head held up the sunflowers, and Shikishu positively loved them. "Oh, Sasori-kun! These are so pretty! Thank you so much! These will be perfect!"

"... Eh," He shied away for just a second, unable to look at her. Then he remembered something. "Ah, l-let me introduce my friends."

Well, why not? They were already lined up like prisoners. Except, they were his _friends_ now.

The couple faced Sasori's _friends_. Sasori motioned over them with a hand. "This is Hoshigaki Kisame."

A year earlier, Sasori had told the boy that he wasn't allowed to show his teeth in his presence. The way Sasori had demanded that he keep his mouth shut still gave Kisame nightmares. So he bowed his fourty-five degrees and did the best he could saying "Nice to meet you." without showing any of his teeth.

The result was just short of tragic. Sasori moved on. "Jakujou Kakuzu," M-mmn. "Saikyoku Hidan," Nice to meet you. "And then Henriki Zetsu."

The latterly called didn't say anything. He didn't like any of this at all. Sasori was introducing them, he called them his 'friends', he was acting nervous and being strange. Zetsu knew he was lying; he absolutely knew it. But he also knew better than to say anything at all. Even though, besides the obvious reasons, this whole ordeal was bothering him more than normal, he forced himself to bow politely.

Whether or not Sasori had noticed his hesitation, he turned his eyes down to Tobi next. "Oh. Lastly, this is Tobi. He's sort of like... the adopted little brother of our group."

Our group. Adopted little brother. It was like Sasori wasn't completely in control of this little makeshift gang. It was as if the same man had never glared at Tobi and called him a stupid little blighter. Tobi shrank behind Zetsu's leg, his fingers clutching tightly at the man's jeans.

A shrug and a grimace. "Sorry. He's a little shy. He doesn't talk much around strangers."

"He sure was talkative a little while ago, hn?"

There was a split second of a flash of something in Sasori's eyes, but it was gone before Zetsu could even convince himself that he'd imagined it.

"... Was he?" The red head seemed not to think about this too deeply. To Zetsu, though, his voice betrayed him his contemplation. "... Well, Deidara, I... was wondering if we could go ahead and head over to your new house...? I'm looking forward to getting you set up. That is, I mean, I want you to see if I did good or bad - or if-"

Deidara interrupted him with a giggle. Cue everyone's hearts in their throats. "That sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see it."

Sasori seemed... overjoyed by this. Well, about as overjoyed as an expressionless, mumbling man could get in a situation. With a 'thank you' to Kisame, and a 'thank you' from the woman to Kakuzu (for the water), they were disappearing out the door - Sasori-kun with bags in his arms even at the protest of his new woman.

For about the fifth time that afternoon, a heavy fog descended upon those who were left behind. It was not so much an uncomfortable silence, as it just was that they were all feeling _very_ uncomfortable. Their world had just ended, been twisted, been used as a snot rag and thrown into the trash. So for the longest time, no one said a single thing. They just continued to stare at the doorway. Eyes wide, lips twitching, everything was trying to process itself over and over again.

Finally Hidan shifted. He crossed his arms over his chest and made a sort of snorting sound with his nose. "Well, whaddya' guess, huh? Ho-ly shit."

A jingling of keys and Kisame frowned and rested his head in his hand. "We're so fucked. We're so fucking fucked."

"It... Could've been worse." Kakuzu placed his hands on his hips and took a deep, incredulous breath.

"There is nothing worse than this," Kisame argued at the same time Hidan whistled in amazement. "Man, I think I need a drink. No, I _know_ I need a drink."

Everyone agreed. Everyone except for Zetsu and Tobi. The three men made their way out the door as well, to the bar downstairs. But Zetsu was silent still, and Tobi began to tremble at his leg.

"That nice woman is in trouble." The boy whispered. Zetsu had to think about this for a moment.

"Maybe she is... That's not our problem."

"She's too nice. Maybe we should say something? Talk to her? Tell her how mean Sasori-no-dana really is? It's not fair for her to-"

"Tobi, it's not our problem."

"Maybe it will be, soon."

The kid brought up a very good point that Zetsu couldn't argue with. Nonetheless, he couldn't bring himself to do anything about it. It was their lives on the line, or her's. That was no contest.

Who knew? Maybe Sasori-no-dana really had changed. Or maybe he was just changed for the moment. No one could be sure - them, least of all. Even though it didn't feel at all right, no one had any idea yet of what was going to be heading their way in the near future.

That was enough contemplation. There was no point worrying about anything at this point. Zetsu picked up his feet and started for the lobby downstairs. He didn't drink as a general rule...

But maybe today, it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Tobi stood alone for some moments of his own. Then, with one last look around, and one last shudder, he tip-toed over to the couch and made himself comfy in the place that the Shikishu woman had sat. Curling up, he pulled his feet in and sighed a great sigh.

That poor woman, he knew, didn't know a thing about her future. And that would be sure to come back and break her.

**「高い牛」**


End file.
